Timber
theft
This Momanyi guy found
us on the site when we were busy chatting with my foreman and introduced
himself. He was all smiles and presented to the foreman his quotation for
timber. By the way, some of us who are small-bodied and sometimes dress anyhow
without much thinking are mistaken for KYMs on site. That reminds me someday
when my brother in-law came to see me on site and this entrepreneurial young
man who wanted to enlist the owner of the house for garbage collection service
was all over him asking for business and ignoring me…then my brother points at
me and advised him that am the owner of the site to his utter shock and
subsequent apologies…story for another day.
The quote in
comparison to the others was so favourable, I could not believe my eyes; what
with prices lower by as much as Kshs 3 to 5 per foot. I asked the guy why that
is the case and he explained that they get their timber from Tanzania at very
good prices hence the favourable prices to their customers. I swallowed that
hook line and sinker and we agreed that we shall visit him at his yard and see
the timber.
The day after we drove
to Rongai together with my foreman and all the way to Nkoroi where the yard is
located. We were loaded with the cash to do the purchase because it was meant
to be a cash deal. They had very nice timber and we agreed that we shall buy
from there. Immediately we agreed, he called some two transport guys and
negotiated the transport on our behalf, a nice dude or so I thought. He
thereafter called his men into action; around eight of them to measure the
timber. We agreed that my foreman will keep any eye on the recording of the
measurements while I keep an eye on the actual measurement, tight controls or
so we thought. The timber was measured and loaded without any issues and truth
be told I never noticed any anomaly. It was then transported to my site and
offloaded.
Something crossed my
mind, I thought it was wise to verify the delivery. I thus instructed the
fundis to measure the timber again. To my utter shock, what I paid for as
compared to what I had on the ground had a discrepancy of 40%; in other words
it was 40% less. Wait….so what happened. I thought I had a hawk eye when the
measuring was being done and I also accompanied one of the delivery trucks to
the site while the foreman accompanied the other. Mystery, mystery…conned in
broad daylight…but how??
I swung into action,
called the guy and told him that he had conned me. Of course he refused. I
insisted that I’ll take up the matter to the cops but he sounded unmoved. I
drove back to Rongai the morning after and reported to the police station about
the ordeal. The cop serving in the OB section just laughed at me and before I
finished my story he asked me whether I had bought the timber from a certain
yard owned by Kisiis. He confided in me that they have received so many
complains about that yard and they have not managed to do anything because it is
hard to prove that the guys actually steal…wait…: ”And why don’t you set a trap
to confirm is they steal”, I asked him. Of course they never really bother because
in the past despite arresting the owner severally, the guy always found his way
out mysteriously. In my thinking this obvious pointed to something bigger and I
therefore so no need of pursuing the matter further with the cops.
I went back home
dejected and trying to figure out how to deal with the matter. I even
contemplated using unorthodox means to recover the loss, like threatening to go
for the owner head with them boys. Painful as it was, I decided to cut my
losses as opposed to throwing good money in an attempt to recover the loss. How
then did they steal from me??
After utilizing the timber
which was far less than was needed on site, I decided to shop around and look
for a place to top up. My little shopping around landed me in Kawangware where
I met a lady who owned a very well stocked yard. We had a chat with her in her
office and I told her about the Rongai incidence and she laughed at me. Before
I narrated the entire ordeal, she told that it is commonplace and especially in
some yards in Rongai to get sellers who underquote but steal from you. She
advised me that it is better to pay the market rates and get value for money as
opposed to look for cheap stuff and get conned. Anyway I bought timber from her
and after confirming the delivery on site, it was tallying with what I paid
for. But while her KYMs were measuring the timber, one opened up and confirmed
that he once worked in a yard in Rongai and he had no qualms telling me the
various ways they were stealing from unsuspecting customers.
It will
shock you but in the next post I’ll tell you how it is done and how to arm
yourself just in case some fellows have planned to do it on you. I was conned
in broad daylight but some things you never wish they happen even to your worst
enemy…. Be warned and advised.
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